OPINION: Compassion overdue for our unemployed

They are the most disadvantaged and downtrodden people in our community.

Trying to exist on as little as $38.48 a day, smeared by nasty stereotypes and shamed into keeping quiet, they are the unemployed.

Since John Howard introduced Work for the Dole in the '90s, the jobless have been under attack.

The name of that scheme reveals its purpose: It's not about helping people into work; it's a dog whistle to our prejudices.

The unemployed, we’re led to believe, and many need no convincing, are bludging off our money and need to be put to work to earn their “dole”.

Work for the Dole pleased the voters, and so we have subsequently seen more “crackdowns”.

Among the latest are the introduction of a cashless welfare card and drug testing.

Again, neither is about helping people into employment; they’re about sending the message that the government is getting tough on those on welfare – particularly the jobless – who are supposedly blowing their payments on booze, drugs and smokes.

For a country that prides itself on giving everyone a fair go, could we be any more mean-spirited toward the unemployed?

While it is all too easy to lump together all those without jobs, the fact is their stories are as diverse as they are.

Of note, particularly for our community, is that more than one in five of those on Newstart are aged between 55 and 64 years.

We know it is particularly hard for older people to find new jobs, with employers seemingly reluctant to give them a go.

Fewer than a third of those on Newstart, meanwhile, are aged under 35 years.

Recent statistics show an increase in long-term unemployment despite a fall in the overall jobless rate, with the average duration of unemployment in Tasmania now at 59.3 weeks.

Clearly, there are many in our community who, for one reason or another, are finding it very difficult to gain employment.

It is fanciful and offensive to think, as some do, that a majority of these people don’t actually want to work.

The truth is they need help, and likely, in many cases, much more intensive and tailored help than is provided by federally-funded employment agencies.

But they also need greater help to live because the amount paid in unemployment benefits has become a national disgrace.

For a single person with no kids it is as low as $538.80 a fortnight – less than 40 per cent of the minimum wage.

That’s also about $250 a fortnight less than what a single aged pensioner could expect.

As we know, there are other payments available to people on welfare, such as rent assistance, but the bottom-line is we are leaving many at the mercy of charities.

Not surprisingly, those organisations are calling for a better deal for the unemployed.

The Share the Pie campaign, launched last week, is aimed at gathering support for an increase in the Newstart allowance, suggesting “life would be a little easier if we all had a fair share of Australia's pie”.

The campaign points out that the gap between what a job seeker receives and what the average Australian worker earns is growing bigger and bigger.

It asks us to consider how we would fare if we had to live on $38.48 a day.

It’s a good question.

But, sadly, the government is more interested in beating up on the unemployed to win votes than it is in showing an ounce of the compassion that is well overdue.